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Topic: Low Fat Easy Lunches (Read 1710 times)

I usually just take a sandwich to work because it's easy to prepare and quick to eat, but I'd love to start taking something a bit healthier and lower fat. Does anyone have any suggestions? Most of the ones I've seen either involve tomato (which I can't eat) or will take lunch preparation time through the roof, and since DH usually makes lunches for the family that seems a bit unfair.

To make ahead: Place lentil mixture in an airtight container at the end of the first step and top with beetroot, spinach and feta. Seal and refrigerate until lunch time. Gently toss the salad just before serving.Notes

I usually just take a sandwich to work because it's easy to prepare and quick to eat, but I'd love to start taking something a bit healthier and lower fat. Does anyone have any suggestions? Most of the ones I've seen either involve tomato (which I can't eat) or will take lunch preparation time through the roof, and since DH usually makes lunches for the family that seems a bit unfair.

Curious why low fat is your focus? Good fats, like avocado and such, are actually very filling and healthy. Something to think about (assuming you don't have a medical reason to restrict such things).

I am a fan of greek yogurt with frozen fruit for an easy healthy lunch.

If your not concerned about carbs, making left overs into a pasta salad is easy. You can boil pasta, toss in olive oil and then leave in the fridge till you need it. If you have a little roasted or grilled veggies left over from dinner, put in a tuperware with some of the pasta and toss with a little greek dressing.

Or take left over brown rice, mix with some left over chicken and or beans, mix in with some salsa and then reheat at work the next day for an easy taco bowl.

Or take sliced turkey and low fat spreadable cheese and make turkey rollups at your desk. With apples and carrots, it's a nice variety.

Make a batch of low fat lentil soup, freeze in freezer bags and grab one as your walking out the door. It'll defrost and then you can pour into a bowl and reheat in the microwave.

I bought a Lunch Crock - made by Crock Pot - it does not cook but it reheats food slowly to eating temp. Plug it in when you get to work and it's hot by lunch time. So far I have reheated soups to delicious steamy hot. Today I am reheating some leftover barbecue pork for a sandwich. I am hoping I'll have good luck with spaghetti or lasagna but I think soups, stews & chili are probably the most common. They have it at Amazon and I saw it at Target as well. Reviews are pretty good for this item.

I usually just take a sandwich to work because it's easy to prepare and quick to eat, but I'd love to start taking something a bit healthier and lower fat. Does anyone have any suggestions? Most of the ones I've seen either involve tomato (which I can't eat) or will take lunch preparation time through the roof, and since DH usually makes lunches for the family that seems a bit unfair.

Curious why low fat is your focus? Good fats, like avocado and such, are actually very filling and healthy. Something to think about (assuming you don't have a medical reason to restrict such things).

I am a fan of greek yogurt with frozen fruit for an easy healthy lunch.

I should really have said low calorie. No health issue as such, but I could stand to lose some weight. With regular exercise I have stopped gaining weight (hurrah) and for a while have been happy with that. I would like to start losing some though and all the evidence shows that lifestyle changes rather than dieting is the way to go.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I haven't time to look at them thoroughly yet but look forward to experimenting!

I eat my biggest meal at lunch. I have access to a microwave so I have some sort of meat, about 1/4 of the plate and the rest in vegetables. They are small plates so I add an apple for dessert. Basically, all of my lunches are leftovers - I cook once a month or so and freeze my dinners.

Chickpea salad - a can of chickpeas, sliced celery and onion, chopped parsley or mint, olive oil and lemon juice, salt and pepper. Three bean salad - chickpeas, kidney beans, blanched green beans, a bit of chopped onion, dressed with white vineger, olive oil, salt and pepper. Both will make enough for a couple of days, and are high in protein and low in fat.

If you have a microwave, rice and beans (they freeze beautifully, so you could make multiple meals quite easily). You could do the same thing with rice bowls - in a microwave/freezer safe container, layer cooked (white or brown), then some cooked seasoned meat of your choice, and some vegetables that freeze well (broccoli, green beans, corn, peas, etc). Microwaveable meal in a bowl.

A bowl of hearty soup - again, make ahead in multiple portions and either microwave at work, or heat in the morning and pour into a thermous. A hearty chicken vegetable soup with rice, beef-barley soup, etc. Have it with a slice of good bread or crackers, and some fruit.

Couscous salad - you can make this with leftover meat and vegetables, and the couscous itself takes 5 minutes to make.

Veggies and yoghurt dip - make the dip and cut up the vegetables at the beginning of the week. Fruit and a sweet yoghurt dip can work too. Or us a hummus or black bean dip.

I eat the same thing for lunch almost every day- some variation or another of a *big salad* plus a healthy protect.

Salad - lettuce, greens, spinach, etc ( whatever you like-I usually clean and wrap in paper towels so I have 4-5 days worth ready to goVeg- add what you like ( cucumber, tomato, pepper, sprouts, etc)Starchy veg - use sparingly ( corn, carrots, beets etc)Roast veg- I make once a week, use a little olive oil and kosher salt ( eggplant, squash, mushroom pepper, fennel)

Proteins I usually roast chicken breast 2-3 times a month, portion out and freeze. Or I make chicken/turkey/vegan burgers and freeze, or add tuna or feta cheese or hard cheese or black beans and avocado etc. The base stays the same - I usually assemble it in the am which ius possible if everything is basically prepared, then I grab the protein and go. I leave it at room temp till lunch time or refrig.

I love soup as well. The little crockpot thing sounds pretty neat. You can make a lower-cal "creamy" soup by pureeing part or all of a veggie-based soup. I'm not sure that it would be so effective with a meat soup, though.

Salad is another favorite of mine. I have eaten salads about the size of my head and they still clocked in at under 500 calories. Just use a variety of greens and veggies that are flavorful and water-dense. (I like cucumbers, fennel, bell peppers, and sprouts.) You can add some dried fruit or veg if you like it. You can make a rendition of a creamy dressing by using strained yogurt and herbs, thinned (carefully) with vinegar or citrus juice. I normally use balsamic-vinegar-based dressings. Toss on something proteiny. Beans? Cheese? Meat? Nuts? Cold cooked potatoes will also really stick to your ribs.

Roasting vegetables gives them tons of flavor. I love roasted fennel and shallots. I toss them with a little oil, salt, and pepper, and cook them until they're tender and caramelizing. I then drizzle on a dressing made of orange juice, honey, and cayenne. It's good on cooked grains of some sort. Or on its own. Or both. I also love roasted root vegetables. I make a roasted root vegetable hash that is pretty good the next day (beets, potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, and carrots tossed in oil, balsamic, soy sauce, salt, pepper, and fresh thyme then roasted until it's cooked the way you like it).

If you like mushrooms, the portobellos make a nice relatively low-cal sandwich filling.

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What a great thread! I've actually been wanting to share this because I've discovered a wonderful healthy and filling salad concoction that has become my new lunchtime staple. I'm trying to control my weight right now.

It's actually a doctored up variant of a Jerusalem salad, which I love, and it's easy to omit tomatoes from.

What you need:

1 cucumber(tomato omitted)1/2 onion (I use white or yellow)1 big handful fresh parsley (I use curly)tahiniolive oillemon juicekalamata olives (I buy them packed fresh in water from the deli counter)feta cheese (crumbled)couscous (whole wheat is a choice but regular works well too)

I assemble the salad portion in one small container. You just chop the cucumber and onion (I prefer small cubed chops rather than thin slices) and then chop and tear the parsley into smaller pieces. Then you add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, a couple of tablespoons tahini, and a generous splash of lemon juice. (you can mix these in a small bowl together and pour them over the veggies) You put that in your tupperware and shake it shake shake it to coat. You can add salt if you like but the other ingredients to come will make it salty too so watch out. I bring that to work along with my tub of olives, my package of feta, and another tupperware of coooked couscous (just a 1/4 cup dry is plenty for one after it cooks)

At work you can just dump the salad onto a plate and add the couscous (or else mix both in one of the containers) On top you sprinkle your feta cheese and you add 5-6 kalamata olives. I keep these ingredients seperate until eating so nothing is too soggy or over saturated. These flavors together are WONDERFUL. For breakfast the other day I took a styrofoam 8oz cup (the kind for hot coffee) and packed the salad portion in the bottom half, added a couple of tablespoons of couscous to the top, added some feta and a couple of olives and it was a layer salad.

I like this because you can adjust the ratio of ingredients easily to taste, everything tastes good with everything else, you've got good grains to bulk it up, and all the fats are good fats! Tahini paste is seed fat, wonderful for you, it's like peanut butter plus. You've got your Omega-3 and Omega-6 and the fat will help keep you full Olives and olive oil are great sources of fat. And the olives proivde that filling meaty texture that will help it register as a complete meal.